SAXTON: Freedom 76 opens at Grandview

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The 54th Annual Freedom 76 weekend at Grandview Speedway begins today with the 11th annual Freedom 38 Sportsman Championship race plus qualifying events, along with practice time for 358 Modified drivers wishing to participate in the Freedom 76.

The Friday program will be known as Fans for Five Friday as the grandstand admission is just $5, while children ages 9 and under will be free of charge.

On Friday, pit gates open at 3 pm, with grandstand gates opening at 5:30 pm, drivers meeting at 5:30 pm, with the pill draw following the drivers meeting. Warmups are at 6:15 pm, and racing at 7:30 pm. Pit admission on Friday is $40, and no license is required. There is no rain date for the Friday event.

Racers are reminded that the Freedom 38 is open to regular Sportsman division drivers only (track or series), drivers who compete regularly in Modified division competition are not eligible to compete.

On Saturday, September 21, the 54th annual Freedom 76 will be run for the 358 Modifieds. The program includes qualifying heats, consolations, cash dash and the Minuteman 20 leading up to the 76-lap Championship main event.

Pit gates open at 9 am, for inspections, fans will be able to enter the Grandstand areas between 9 am, and 12 Noon to reserve seats with blankets, with grandstand ticket windows opening at 3 pm. Pill draw for position is at 4:30 pm, with the drivers meeting at 5 pm, warm-ups are at 6 pm, with racing starting at 7 p.m.

Adult Grandstand tickets on Saturday will be $40, students 10-15 with ID are $20, while children ages 9 and under are admitted free of charge. Pit admission will be $45, and no license is required. There will be no advanced tickets sold for this event, and the rain date is Saturday, September 28.

Those wishing to camp at the Speedway please note: Campers can enter the grounds in the fourth turn area on Saturday, September 14 and remain there until the 21st. However, because there are no hookups, sleeping in the campers can only take place September 20-22.

Always proud to brag that I announced many of the 53 Freedom 76 races.

Goodyear, Anheuser-Busch top annual most-recognized sports sponsorship list.

us a breakdown on top sponsors.

Goodyear's long-standing sponsorship of NASCAR has finished at the top of the recognition list nine times since 2012, including in this year's 18th annual study.

Goodyear's status as the official tire of NASCAR and Anheuser-Busch's official sponsorship of the NFL are the most recognized sponsorships in sports, according to the 18th annual Sponsor Breakthrough studies fielded over the past year by MarketCast for Sports Business Journal.

Sixty-seven percent of NASCAR and NFL fans in separate sport-specific studies fielded during each sport's playoffs correctly identified the brands as being the exclusive tire and beer sponsor, respectively.

Both partnerships have enjoyed past success in the surveys: The Goodyear-NASCAR relationship has now finished No. 1 nine times since 2012; the NFL-Bud Light partnership came out on top in 2021. Bud Light has been the league's official beer since 2011, and shared that distinction with Budweiser from 1988 through 2001.

In 2007, SBJ and MarketCast launched the Sponsor Breakthrough franchise after multiple leagues claimed their fans were the most brand-loyal and brand-aware consumers in sports. SBJ has fielded 141 league-specific studies across Major League Baseball, MLS, NASCAR, the NBA, NHL, NFL, PGA Tour (starting in 2008), NCAA basketball (beginning in 2013, skipping 2020), WNBA (starting after the 2021 season) and the NWSL (beginning in 2023).

Goodyear last month renewed its NASCAR sponsorship through the 2027 season, extending a relationship that began in 1954. The Akron-based manufacturer maintained its status last year as the top seller of replacement tires in the U.S.

The brand has worked with NASCAR for several years on development of the Next Gen cars, which debuted in 2022, and has received significant exposure as NASCAR begins presenting drivers with the chance to choose from a "prime" tire, which sacrifices short-stint speed for longer-run durability, and an "option" tire made with a softer rubber compound that maximizes short-term grip at the cost of more rapid wear.

Despite marketing decisions causing Bud Light to drop from the top spot in beer sales in the U.S., the beer and Anheuser-Busch are highly recognized as an NFL sponsor.

In the NFL, Bud Light moved on from the commotion (and loss of sales) that came after it used transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney for some marketing to launch its season-long "Easy to Sunday" campaign, which pays tribute to the hard "work" that goes into being an avid football fan. Additionally, the beer-maker brought back market-specific, team-branded cans for nearly all of its 27 team partners.

Bud Light, which dethroned big brother Budweiser in 2001 as the country's top-selling beer, was toppled last year by Constellation Brands' Modelo Especial and has since been leapfrogged by sister brand Michelob Ultra.

The competition for the top sponsor spot has intensified over the past few years. Following the 2016 NASCAR season, for example, 57% of the sport's fans correctly identified Goodyear as its official tire, a level of awareness that would rank seventh in our most recent year of data. Similarly, 59% of golf fans in this round of studies recognized FedEx's longtime PGA Tour partnership, the same level attained in our 2017 study. Seven years ago, that was the most recognized partnership in sports. This time around, it ranked No. 6.

In terms of other year-over-year movements, the NCAA earned the four biggest such recognition improvements, as Buffalo Wild Wings, Reese's, Capital One and Wendy's each saw a double-digit increase in the percent of college basketball fans that correctly identified the sponsorships.

"NASCAR and its brand partners still lead in sponsorship awareness among fans, but women's sports — especially the NCAA women's basketball tournament — are gaining significant traction," said Greg Truex, MarketCast's vice president of sports and sponsorship research. "Four of the NCAA's partnerships experienced the largest year-over-year growth in sponsorship awareness of any of the more than 450 brands [sponsors and non-sponsors] that we measured across all leagues during the most recent cycle of surveys."

On the other side, half of the eight partnerships to see the biggest year-over-year decline came from the NHL, as Honda dropped from a 21% recognition level in 2023 (following a six-point drop in last year's study) to 14%, while Truly Hard Seltzer, Geico and MassMutual each shed four points compared to the study fielded after the 2022-23 hockey season.

Most-recognized partnerships of the past year

Brand-Property (partners since)

% of the fans of each specific league who correctly identified the brand as an official sponsor

Bud Light/Budweiser-NFL (1988-2001, 2011-present)

Goodyear-NASCAR (1997)

Gatorade-NBA (1984)

Gatorade-NFL (1983)

Coca-Cola-NASCAR (1998)

FedEx-PGA Tour (2007)

Rolex-PGA Tour (2005)

Capital One-NCAA (2010)

Gatorade-MLB (1990)

Adidas-MLS (1996)

Monster-NASCAR (2017)

Coca-Cola-MLS (2015)

Busch-NASCAR (1988-2007, 2018-present)

Bud Light/Budweiser-MLB (1980)

Rocket Mortgage-PGA Tour (2014)

Home Depot-MLS (2008)

Buffalo Wild Wings-NCAA (2013)

Pepsi-NFL (2002)

Sunoco-NASCAR (2004)

Coca-Cola-NCAA (2002)

AT&T Wireless-NCAA (2001)

Home Depot-NCAA (2024)

T-Mobile-MLB (2013)

AT&T Wireless-MLS (2009)

Gatorade-WNBA (1997)

Mack Trucks partnership

Mack Trucks, with offices in nearby Allentown, and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) announced a long-term partnership under which Mack will be designated as the "Official Long-Haul Truck of Richard Childress Racing."

As part of the agreement, Mack will provide a fleet of customized Mack Anthem® 70-inch Stand-Up Sleeper models dedicated to meeting the needs of RCR during the grueling NASCAR season.

"The Mack Anthem has repeatedly proven its dependability and quality for the last eight years serving as the Official Hauler of NASCAR," said David Galbraith, vice president of marketing and global brand for Mack Trucks. "With superior uptime performance coupled with excellent efficiency, it only makes sense that RCR has entrusted Mack to haul its critical technology and equipment. We're extremely proud to announce our partnership, providing us the opportunity to share the capabilities of Mack products and the excitement of the NASCAR season with customers and fans."

Bridgeport Motorsports Park

Bridgeport, N.J., Motorsports Park offers a five division show on Saturday. URC Sprint Cars are featured along with Sportsman, 4 Cylinders, Vintage and Classic Vintage racing. Warmups start at 6 p.m.

And for those who like to plan in advance the Indoor Midgets are featured at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on January 31-February 1. Tickets are on sale starting October 5.

Ernie Saxton is an auto racing contributor for MediaNews Group. He co-founded the Eastern Motorsports Press Association, served as public relations director for Grandview Speedway for 47 years, and is in multiple halls of fame for his promotion and journalism related to the sport. He has announced races at more than 100 tracks, and he is the only person to have announced a race at Madison Square Garden. Email him at Originally Published: September 20, 2024 at 11:06 a.m.